Fundamental
by yesimahuman
Summary: If they chose to activate the Avatar State and freeze Aang in the ice, the world would continue to be engulfed by war, and if they decided to abandon Aang, his blood would be on their hands. Kuruk, Roku, Yangchen, and Kyoshi make a choice.


Fundamental

This was not supposed to be an issue. When the Avatar was young, and unable to control the Avatar State, the past Avatars would only invoke the Avatar State in cases of emergency. Right now, Aang was drowning, and the Avatar State was to be activated. It was standard procedure, and as such, Roku was confused as to why his fellow Avatars had frozen time.

Roku looked around in confusion at the three people surrounding him. "What are we doing?" he asked. "Aang is about to drown! We must activate the Avatar State!"

To his right, Kyoshi spoke up. "Roku," she began, cautiously. The trepidation with which she talked frightened Roku; Kyoshi was straightforward and brusque, and this was uncharacteristic of her. "As you know, Aang cannot waterbend on his own, and we are only capable of bringing Aang to the surface, after which we will be unable to activate the Avatar State again, and Aang shall sink again. If we attempt to take Aang out of the water, we will fail, and Aang will die in spite of our efforts."

"Don't tell me that you're that uncreative," Roku snapped. "We need not bring Aang to the surface at all. We can freeze him below the waters; ensure that he shall survive. One day, he shall be found."

Kyoshi paused before continuing. "Yes," she said, sounding pained. "_One day._"

"What do you-"

Kyoshi's implications crashed down upon Roku, stopping everything, shocking him to his core. "No," he seethed.

Yangchen came up behind Kyoshi. "Roku, Aang may never be found. You know that we cannot do this," she said.

Roku gritted his teeth. "_Yes we can_," he hissed. "We can choose to uphold our beliefs. We can choose to not follow through with this monstrosity. How many of you support this?"

"About half," Kuruk replied. "That is why we stopped time: to call a vote."

"This is an issue?" Roku said, incredulous. "The life of a twelve-year old boy is an issue?"

"Yes, Roku, it is," Yangchen said. "The fate of the world is an issue. The war waged by the Fire Nation is an issue, as are their continued attempts at _genocide,_ Roku."

Roku's response had been predicted, yet it still disturbed Yangchen. Kuruk, Kyoshi, Yangchen, and Roku were comprised the two hundred and fifty second Avatar Cycle. They were closer to each other than they were with the other Avatars. They were friends, companions, and they knew each other well. They knew that Roku had been the only one to pass on a major war to his successor. Roku was the only one who had-

"I failed," Roku muttered. "Sozin was my responsibility; it is my fault that this war even happened."

"Roku, that's not what I meant," Yangchen said, guilty. "You know-"

Roku chuckled darkly. "Is it not? Could I have turned Sozin against this war? Yes. Did I? No. It is my fault that Aang, a twelve-year-old boy, has been thrust into this situation. It is my fault that we are having this conversation. At the very least, I would like to spend eternity knowing that it was _not _my fault that Avatar Aang drowned."

"Roku, it is our duty as Avatar to maintain balance, no matter the cost. The monks of the Eastern Air Temple raised me to believe that all life was sacred, and yet we all know that as Avatar, we must make sacrifices," Yangchen said.

"He isn't a child, Yangchen," Kyoshi reminded. "Look at him."

They chuckled, but only for a brief moment. The humor that could be derived from deciding whether or not a boy lived or died was not abundant.

"When I lived, I dealt with my fair share of dictators and tyrants. They were guilty. Justice dictated that they should die," Roku said. "And here, justice dictates that Aang ought to _live._ He is an innocent boy! Kyoshi, you had to kill Chin the Conqueror because he was evil. When do the sacrifices we make degrade our character to the point where _we _become the evil ones?"

"I-I don't know," Kyoshi confessed. "But I do know that Roku sees himself as responsible for Aang's plight. And I do know that I won't burden an old friend anymore by adding to Roku's guilt."

Roku turned to Kuruk. "Kuruk, you would have had children," he said. "Your descendants would have been great waterbenders. Are you going to kill this boy?"

Kuruk sighed. "Every year, without fail, I hunt Koh down. One day, I _will _save Ummi, for I have chosen that as my purpose in life. Aang is yet a boy. We kill him now, and we never give him the opportunity to become a man that can make his own destiny, one that can decide his own path and become an Avatar that we can all be proud of."

Roku knew of Ummi. He knew that Kuruk was tired of chasing Koh, and he knew that Kuruk was a man that had once been free, and now was chained, both by guilt, and by death. Roku understood Kuruk, for both of them carried the burden of guilt, and neither of them had any desire to become greater criminals.

"Roku, the fate of the world rests on our hands," Yangchen said. "If we seal him in ice, only the Lion Turtle knows how long he will be kept there, immobile and paralyzed. We cannot let our own moral restraints doom the world to an era of hate and war."

"Once we remove those restraints we become no better than the people that Aang must defeat," Roku said. "We become no nobler than Sozin, who started this war. Once we decide that killing a young boy is morally acceptable, we become nothing more than monsters, and if we decide to kill Aang, when that boy arrives in the Spirit World, we will bow our heads in shame, for we will have abandoned Aang. If he looks upon us in disgust, I will urge him not only to despise us with his gaze, but with his fists, for once we betray the fundamental values of justice and compassion we become despicable."

A loud gong sounded throughout the clouds, and on the highest cloud, a figure rose up, and Bei, the first Avatar, spoke.

"As we speak, Avatar Aang lies in mortal peril. The only way we can save him is if we trap him in ice. If we choose not to activate the Avatar State, Avatar Aang shall die, and the next Avatar shall be born into the Northern or Southern Water Tribes. If we save him, he shall lie under the seas for an indeterminate amount of time."

"Those in favor of activating the Avatar State, raise your hands."

The two hundred and fifty first Avatar Cycle maintained the honor of having a unanimous vote.

Review, please.


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